U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0077550 A discloses a specimen imaging apparatus for imaging a specimen plate (hereinafter also simply referred to as “specimen”), in which a sample such as blood is smeared on a slide glass, with a camera.
The specimen plate is created by the smear creating device, and the created specimen plate is supplied to the specimen imaging apparatus. In this case, since the slide glass is fragile and is inconvenient to handle, that in which the slide glass is inserted into a cassette made of synthetic resin is provided from the smear creating device and such cassette is transported to a specimen receiving section of the specimen imaging apparatus.
Such cassette, however, is high height compared to the slide glass, and the shape is also complex. A cassette discharging port of the smear creating device and the specimen receiving section of the specimen imaging apparatus are spaced apart not only in the horizontal direction but also in the up-down direction in most cases. A transportation mechanism for gripping the cassette and transporting the cassette to a predetermined position in the specimen imaging apparatus thus tends to become large and complex.